Conserving Our Natural Resources

Katherine "Kathy" Abbott, executive director of Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, is a widely recognized leader in conservation at the state and national levels. She has held posts as interim president and executive vice president of The Trustees of Reservations, director of the Conservation and Recreation Campaign of The Trust for Public Land, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; and president and CEO of the Boston Harbor Island Alliance. 

 

During her career, Abbott has developed a national reputation while working on creative public-private partnerships and fundraising as the Founding president and CEO of the Boston Harbor Alliance. She partnered with the National Park Service, other agencies, non-profits, corporations and foundations to successfully develop and manage the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, a new model national park. As the national co-chair of the City Parks Alliance, the only independent, nationwide membership organization solely dedicated to urban parks, she works with organizations and agencies across the country to advance public and private support for urban parks, including gardens.

 

Abbott has an Associate degree in arboriculture from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass-Amherst, a Bachelor of Science in landscape architecture and regional planning from UMass-Amherst, and a Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. 

 

Now the nation's third oldest horticultural society, the Worcester County Horticultural Society was established in 1842. Nearly 150 years later, the non-profit organization created Tower Hill Botanic Garden, one of New England's only comprehensive botanic gardens. Designed to accommodate 150,000 visitors a year, Tower Hill Botanic Garden has offerings include numerous programs, classes, events, function facilities and, of course, the year-round beauty of the gardens.